fiscal year 2019 marketing plan

CHEYENNE, WYO - Seeking to grow beef demand, the Wyoming Beef Council will use ENDOW (Economically Needed Diversification Options for Wyoming) funds for promotions targeting Taiwanese consumers in the upcoming fiscal year, as well as continuing to employ creative social media strategies focusing on Wyoming's ranching culture and heritage.

These strategies are included in the Beef Council's fiscal year 2019 marketing plan and budget, both of which were approved during a June 4 conference call. Fiscal year 2019 starts on July 1, 2018, and runs through June 30, 2019. Both the budget and the marketing plan are available on the producer section of the WBC website wybeef.com.

The WBC, a five-member board of beef producers, works on behalf of the cattle growers of Wyoming to increase demand for beef through promotion, education, and research. WBC programs are funded by the $1-per-head beef checkoff collected on all Wyoming cattle when they are sold. Fifty cents of every checkoff dollar collected is sent to the Cattlemen's Beef Board which oversees checkoff programs. The remaining 50 cents is used at the discretion of the members of the WBC for state, national or international programs.

“The Wyoming Beef Council strategically invests in key partnerships with other organizations and state beef councils, allowing us to maximize Wyoming beef checkoff dollars and reach markets that we could not penetrate on our own,” said Ann Wittmann, executive director of the Wyoming Beef Council. "Targeting areas outside the state is especially important to Wyoming, which has more cattle than consumers. These partnerships allow us to promote Wyoming beef to growing global markets like Japan and Taiwan and highly populated states in the United States."

Global demand for premium protein is expected to increase 68 percent by 2050 while domestic demand for beef has remained relatively consistent in recent years. The WBC has set aside funds to join a U.S. Red Meat Market Development Partnership with the U.S. Meat Export Federation that is expected to reach 100,000 Japanese consumers and 200,000 Taiwanese. The Taiwanese promotion will utilize $25,000 in matching funds from ENDOW to help put the face of Wyoming ranchers in Taiwanese grocery stores.

Advertising where consumers live in the United States is critically important to the overall success of the Beef Checkoff Program. The Beef Council will continue to pool its checkoff dollars with other state beef councils in a campaign targeting millennial consumers in five high population states - California, Florida, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Collectively, the five states targeted account for more than 100 million consumers or about one-third of the total U.S. population.

Extensive national Beef Checkoff research shows that millennials in the United States use social media as a source for tips about preparing beef. The Beef Council plans to capitalize on the millennial generation's interest for easy beef recipes by establishing a YouTube channel to feature quick and easy recipes prepared by a Wyoming Culinary School graduate, nutrition and wellness tips from a Wyoming registered dietitian, and other Wyoming specific beef promotion campaigns including the current “Powered by Beef” Wyoming video series.

To educate health and nutrition influencers about beef's nutritional, the WBC will continue coordinating with the Wyoming Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Wyoming Association for Nutrition and Food Service Professionals. Additionally, opportunities with Wyoming Diabetes Management, Wyoming Department of Health, Wyoming School Nurses Association, Wyoming Department of Education, Women Infants and Children, UW County Extension Service and Wyoming Cancer Control Consortium will be explored.

In the upcoming fiscal year, the WBC will also focus on cost-effective efforts to ensure checkoff investors are aware of how their checkoff dollars are spent. These efforts include continuation of the Council's e-newsletter, as well as advertising in the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, WREN magazine, the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation's Wyoming Agriculture publication, and the Northern Broadcasting stations.

Wyoming Beef Council

The mission of the Wyoming Beef Council is to increase beef demand domestically and internationally for the benefit of Wyoming farmers and ranchers. For more information on beef checkoff funded activities in Wyoming, visit www.wybeef.com.